Containers and closure members therefor



Sept. 1, 1959 AR. D. RHODES CONTAINERS AND cLosuRE MEMBERS THEREEORFiled Aug. 27, 1956 fl( o I IN VEN TOR.

' angl Pu's'iELL D. Quienes United States Patent 2,902,191 CONTAINERSAND cLosURE MEMBERS rHEREFoRV Russell D. Rhodes, Kansas City, Kans.

Application August 27, 1956, SerialNo. 606,422

4'Cl3imS. (Cl. 222-4215) My invention relates to containers and closuremembers therefor, and particularly to a container" that'has a closuremembery telescopically related thereto.

More specifically, my invention comprises a closure member that isadapted to be applied to a standard container such as a standard glassjar, whichclosure inember is'made of transparent iie'xib'le material sothatitwill slidably engage the body portion o'f the jar or' similarcontainer with a gripping engagement due to the nexibility of thematerial; The exible material is preferably a'plastic that is of such' acharacter that it has sufficient resiliency to grip the wall'portion ofthe container'with which the closure member is associated, the characterof the plastic material at present preferred being clear acrylic resin.'Preferably the closure member isV integrally molded, although if founddesirable, the body portion and the end w'all thereof may be made ofseparate pieces' suitably secured together in a well known manner by.adhesive or heating, depending upon thecharacter of the plastic materialused.

It is an important purpose of my invention to provide acontai'ner andlclosure member that are sorelated that when'the' closure member is in'one of its .limitingfp'ositions it will hold the closure member insealingengagement with the container, while, when it is in the otherlimiting position in which the closure member iseXtended endwise beyondthe container, the contents oftheicontainer can be poured or otherwise-passedV into the `extended closure member so that the contents willthus become accessible through a suitable opening provided therefor inthe closure member.

The closure member is telescopicallyl related tothe container, which, inits standard form, is open at one end thereof, the closure member havinga closed end Wall and a cylindrical side wall that extends from theclosed end wall and'h-as an access opening therein that is in the formof a wide gapvextending from adjacent the closed end wall to the openen'd'iof the closure member. It is al purpose'fofmy inventionA toprovidemeans'gonsaid cylindrical-sidewall that-slidably engages thejcylindrical bodyfportion of thejar orsimilar container, and which isvloca-ted adjacentftheopen vend of the closure member, that grippinglyengages-me'lcont-ainer.' Containers of the character with which myclosure member is used usually have a' flange' and gasket'l'olding'ne'ans ther"e`n`adja cent the open end thereof and have aconvex wall portion at the periphery of the closed end wall where theclosed end wall joins the side wall of the container.

The means that grippingly engages the side wall of the container that ison the closure member is of such a character that it is adapted toengage or snap around said convexly curved end wall to hold the gasketthat is provided on the gasket holding means on the jar in engagementwith the closed end wall of the closure member to seal the container. Inorder that this ycan be accompl-ished, a new type of sealing means isprovided in the form of a gasket that is annular in character and whichprojects endwise beyond the open end of the jar or' similar containerwhen it is in place so that the com pressible gasket member will engagethe closed end wall of the closure member to provide the seal betweenthe closed member andthe container, and the open end of the closuremember is provided with resilient means to assure that the grippingmeans will firmly engage said convex wall portion.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will ap" pearv as thedescription of the drawings proceeds. I desirel to have it understood,however, that I do not intend to limit myself to the particular detailsshown or described, except as defined in the claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional'view through the container and closuremember made in accordance with my invention, in container sealingposition.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the closure member moved out of closingposition.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation ofthe closure memberv partly bro-ken away.

Fig. 4f is a section taken on the line 4 4 of Fig'.` 3.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary/' longitudinal sectional View through thecontainer and the closure member in an extended position, and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section, on an enlarged scale, takensubstantially on the line 6 -6 of Fig. 4.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the container to which my inventionis applied -is a standard glass jar having the cylindrical `side wallportion 6, a closed end wall 7,l an open mouthS, an annular ilange 9 andgasket retainingmeans 10 adjacent thek mouth or open end 8 thereof. Asis customary in containers of this character, lthe end wall 7 has aperipheral convexly curved portion 11, that joins it with the side wall6.

In carrying outy my invention I provide thecontainer with a compressibleannular gasket member 12 adjacent the'mouth 8 thereof, which' isprovided with an annular groove thatreceives the retainingmeans 10 andwhich has inclined wall portions 13 and 14 that are of a conicalcharacter and which terminate in an apex or edge portion 15 to thusproject the portion 16 of said gasket beyond the end edge 8 of' thecontainer.` Said compressible gasket member 12 also seats against theflange 9, and preferably has an annular lip 26 overlapping the end edgeof'the open mouth 8 to provide aseal between said gasket-12 and thecontainer.

My improved closurel member is provided with an end wall l-17 and alsidewallV 18. The side wall 18 is cylindrical-5in; character and joinsthe end wall 1 7 slightly inwardly from theperipheral edge 19 thereof,to thus provide a narrow ange on the closed end of the closure member.VThe cylindrical wallportion 13 extends .only partial-,lyv around thecontainer to which it is applied, havingedge portions 2t) thatextendlongitudinally of said sidewwally portion 18 andl are widelyspacedvfrom each otherfto provide a wide gap 21 between said edges,whereby an accessopening iseprovided into the c losure memberfwhen it is.extended beyond: the mofuth S of the container, full access theretobeing obtained when it is moved to the limiting position extended beyondsaid mouth 8, as shown in Fig. 5. The end wall 17 and the cylindricalside wall portion 1S are preferably made of a unitary piece of moldedplastic material, such as clear acrylic resin, although any clearplastic that is of such a character `that the wall portions 1S can flexoutwardly from the position shown in Fig. l to that shown in Fig. 2 canbe used. The open end edge of the closure member is provided adjacentthereto with a plurality of inwardly extending projections 22, which arealso preferably molded integrally with the wall portion 18. Saidprojections are preferably located adjacent each of the edges 20 and ata point midway between the edges 20, as shown in Fig. 4, so as toprovide a three point engagement of the closure member with thecontainer.

When the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1 the resiliency of theclosure member will cause the projections 2.2. to grip the convexperipheral wall 11 of the end walls 7 and the closure member is of suchlength that when such engagement between the projections 22 and theconvex wal-l portion 11 occurs the gasket member 12 will be compressedbetween the flange 9 and the end wall i7, and the peripheral edge of themouth S and said end wall, thus sealing the contents of the containeragainst access of air, moisture, or foreign matter thereto. Preferably aspring wire Z7 is mounted in a groove 28 and extends circumferentiallyof the side wall 18 at its open end edge 29 to guard against spreadingof the wall portion 1S and assure that gripping engagement of theprojections 22 with the convex end wall portion 11 will be maintained.The spring wire 27 is preferably retained in the groove 23 by applyingheat and pressure to the material of the side wall 18 at its peripheraledge 29 to form retaining beads 3l) at spaced intervals along said edge.

When the closure member is moved from the position shown in Fig. 1 intoa position such that the projections 22 engage the cylindrical wallportion 6 of the container, the wall portion 18 will 'oe sprung slightlyoutwardly, as shown in Fig. 2, and this outwardly sprung position of thewall portion 13 will continue until the projections 22 pass along thewall portion 23 of the container, whereupon the projections will seat inthe annular recess 24 adjacent the ilange 9, as shown in Fig. 5.

One of the uses of the container is illustrated in Fig. 5, in whichvarious objects 25 stored in the container have been allowed to roll orflow outwardly into the extended closure member so that these can bereached through the access opening 21 and a desired article removedtherefrom. While fastening elements are shown as being the contents ofthe container in Fig. 5, any suitable small parts, or any suitableloose, or even uid material, can be stored in the container and can bemade accessible by extending the closure member endwise, as shown inFig. 5, and sealed within the container against leakage by moving theclosure member to the sealing position shown in Fig. 1. The closuremember can be moved between the position shown in Fig. 1 and that shownin Fig. 5, and vice versa, by merely pushing on the ange 19 or the endwall 17 with the fingers of the hand in which the container and closuremember are being held, thus leaving the other hand free to removematerial, such as the articles 2S, from the extended closure member,which, when in its extended position, forms a tray-like holding meansfor the articles that are poured or owed into the same from thecontainer by suitably tilting the container slightly upwardly relativeto the closure member with the closure member in its extended position.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a container having a cylindrical body portionopen at one end thereof having a flange and gasket holding meansadjacent said open end and an end wall having a convexly curvedperipheral portion, of a closure member telescopically related to saidcontainer open at one end thereof having a closed end wall and acylindrical side wall extending from said closed .4 end wall of saidclosure member, an annular gasket mounted on said gasket holding meansand projecting endwise beyond the open end of said container and meanson said cylindrical side wall engaging said convexly curved end wallportion to hold said gasket in sealing engagement with the end wall ofsaid closure member, said cylindrical side wall having an access openingtherein.

2. The combination with a container having a cylindrical body portionopen at one end thereof having a flange and gasket holding meansadjacent said open end and an end wall having a convexly curvedperipheral portion, of a closure member telescopically related to saidcontainer open at one end thereof having a closed end wall and acylindrical side wall extending from said closed `end wall of saidclosure member, an annular gasket mounted on said gasket holding meansand projecting endwise beyond the open end of said container and meanson said cylindrical side wall engaging said convexly curved end wallportion to hold said gasket in sealing engagement with the end wall ofsaid closure member and adapted to engage said flange to limit openingmovement of said closure member.

3. The combination with a container having a cylindrical body portionopen at one end thereof having a ange and gasket holding means adjacentsaid open end and an end wall having a convexly curved peripheralportion, of a closure member telescopically related to said containeropen at one end thereof having a closed end wall and a cylindricalflexible side wall extending from said closed end wall thereof andhaving a wide gap therein extending from adjacent said closed end wallto the open end of said closure member, an annular gasket mounted onsaid gasket holding means and projecting endwise beyond the open end ofsaid container and means on said cylindrical side wall engaging saidconvexly Vcurved end wall portion to hold said gasket in sealingengagement with the end wall of said closure member.

4. The combination with a container having a cylindrical body portionopen at one end thereof having a ange and gasket holding means adjacentsaid open end and an end wall having a convexly curved peripheralportion, of a closure member telescopically related to said containeropen at one end thereof having a closed 'end Wall and a cylindricalflexible side wall extending from said closed end wall thereof andhaving a wide gap therein extending from adjacent said closed end wallto the open end of said closure member, an annular gasket mounted onsaid gasket holding means and projecting endwise beyond the open end ofsaid container and circumferentially spaced inwardly directedprojections on said cylindrical side wall engaging said convexly curvedend wall portion to hold said gasket in sealing engagement with the endwall of said closure member.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,619,509 Groves Mar. 1, 1927 2,297,945 Cornelius Oct. 6, 1942 2,353,629Apfelbaum July 18, 1944 2,777,570 Mytinger Ian. l5, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS473,308 Great Britain Oct. 11, 1937

